


I Failed

by notthehighkingedmund



Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 01:13:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6065290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notthehighkingedmund/pseuds/notthehighkingedmund
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if they hadn't won against Jadis and she'd captured the Pevensie children?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Failed

He didn't know how long it had been since the battle. She'd taken them all as her prisoners shortly after killing Aslan, and returning Narnia to its former iciness.  
It felt like years had passed... Hardly any food or water... Constant pain and torture. Hearing his siblings screaming in pain, crying for help - and eventually just crying quietly cause there's nothing else to do.

It had been 2 months.

Their cells were close enough that they could talk, but not touch. So that they could see each other fade and break - but not help. In the beginning they often spoke of escaping, but it slowly became apparent that escaping was too tricky. Too risky. The only times they were likely to be unbound, there were wolves guarding them. The idea soon became nothing more than a fantasy to keep him going.

Until their chains were loose. Jadis had seemed tired over the past few days of chasing and torturing rebels, and that had caused her to become less thorough. Their chains were loose and the wolves were quiet... Distracted.  
Excitedly the Pevensie children removed themselves from their prison, and snuck out of the ice palace.  
Then they split up. It had been agreed in the early days of escape plans that they would just run - run and meet at the lamppost near the wardrobe. If no one else showed up then they were to leave.

And so he ran, as fast as his cold and weak legs would carry him. For hours he ran - slipping on ice, hiding behind rocks and doing his best to cover his tracks, he eventually found himself at the lamppost. Finally - freedom.

He wasn't the first sibling to reach the lamppost. Joy trickled away and froze into dread, and denial - for there, hanging from the top of the lamppost, blood still dripping from the huge gash in his neck, was his brother.

Recoiling from the sight, he turned and ran - desperately fighting back tears. He had to find his sisters before Jadis did!  
But the tears that stubbornly flowed, freezing in mid-air before dropping into the snow, made it difficult for him to see. Soon enough the combination of a blurred vision and slippery ground had him stumbling over something and hitting the floor like a sack of potatoes.

His face was stinging from the cold snow, but the tears were gone. The shock was enough to stop them, thankfully... Looking back at what he'd tripped on, he noticed that it wasn't a branch or a root... It looked like a person. Had he fallen over an innocent bystander? Sick to his stomach, he scooted over, hoping that he was right.

Simply brushing away the first layer of the snow covered mound revealed Lucy. A look of pure terror and pain frozen on her face, and a gaping red hole where her chest should be.  
Crying out, he scrambled to his feet and ran once more. It was clear that she had been dead longer than their brother. Which meant Jadis had found her sooner.

Every bone in his body wished that Susan had made it out of the wardrobe in time.

Deciding that he couldn't risk going back now - not when he could be so easily tracked to the lamppost - he decided he would try to hide. She'd have to give up the search eventually.

Then quiet sleigh bells caught his attention, and he knew that she would be near. So he ran, again. This time he had no clear destination as he ran through the trees - hoping some of them were on his side - sliding across icy grass.  
Stupidly, he'd gotten lost and found himself near the river where the Beavers had once lived in their dam. The dam had since been destroyed by wolves.

Then it got too slippery for his tired legs to keep him upright, and he was sliding towards the edge of the cliff. Panicking, he reached out and grabbed a tree root and pulled himself to safety.  
Only it wasn't a tree root.  
It was a hand.

He didn't have to uncover her to know it was Susan. But he did anyway. He needed to confirmation that his siblings were gone. An anguished scream echoed through the silent forest, followed by harsh sobs.  
He was alone.  
His brother and sisters were dead...

And Jadis was right there. He didn't care. He wanted her to just kill him - to strike him where he lay and get it over with!  
He didn't even flinch as she moved.  
Until she was picking him up and tossing him into her sleigh, to be tied down by dwarves.

They took him back to the palace and led the distraught boy to his cell.  
That was when he fell to his knees - all of the wind ripped from his lungs at the sight before him. Jadis had decorated his cell. With three frozen statues, of three dead children.

He didn't know how long he had been there, staring and his siblings. Days, months, years? It didn't matter. He was so cold... So tired.  
A single tear rolled down Peter's face as he whispered aloud in the silent cell.

"I failed to protect them... I'm so sorry."


End file.
